 |
||
| Photo by and © Gillian Sore – used with permission |
Southampton-based singer and multi-instrumentalist Anja McCloskey is touring the UK, playing Lancaster’s Yorkshire House on 20th August.
Half-American, half-German and raised in Northern Germany, Anja has played in various bands including the 10-piece performance orchestra The Irrepressibles and Haunted Stereo, and worked with solo artists (Katy Carr, Jake Flowers, Helen McCookerybook, Ana Silvera), and decided to start her own project in 2010.
Her love for music evolved as she grew up listening to her grandfather playing the button accordion, which led to it becoming her main instrument, although her wider interest in music meant that not only is she classically trained as an accordionist, but as a gospel pianist too.
In 2000, Anja won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award and two years later moved to the UK to continue her musical journey, which last year saw the release of her EP “Turn-Turn-Turn” on Sotones Records, which features a multitude of instruments such as piano, violin, viola, guitar and clarinet and combined her classical knowledge and her new found inspiration for folk music.
After a recent US tour, she’s now recorded her debut album and a first single (“And Her Head”) will be released on Sotones Records on 5th September 2011.
Anja has quite a following – students from Southampton University have even made a dcumentary about her work, which you can view on her official web site (www.anjamccloskey.co.uk). Well worth checking out.
• Anja McCloskey Official web site